Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-12-18
USES OF THE RING.
ITS IMPORTANCE IL THE MODERN WE'D
DING CEREMONY.
Curious Bits Of History Connected With il
in TIE Various Lgss-Church KsTS
Curtain Rings and Other Peculiar
Substitutes.
I'd. r. xcAnauy in Popular Science Nonaly.I

I'd. r. NcARaHy in Popular Science Aondly.l
OF all the ornaments with which vanity,
superstition and affectation have decorated
the human form, few have more curious
bits of history than the lingering. From
the earliest times the ring has been a favor
lite ornament, and the reason for this gen.
eral preference shown for it over other ar
tieles Of jewelry are numerous and cogent.
Ornaments whose place is on some other
portion of the apparel, or in the hair, must
be laid aside with the clothing or head
dress, are thus easily lost and often not at
once missed. Pins, brooches, buckles,
clasps, buttons, all sooner or later become
defective in some part, and are liable to
escape from an owner unconscious Of the
defect in the mechanism. The links OF a
necklace in time become worn, aud the ar
ticle is taken off to be mended; the spring
or other fastening Of a bracelet is easily
broken. and the bracelet vanishes. With
regard TO ornaments fastened 10 parts of
the savage body, mutilation is necessary,
the ear must be bored, the nose be pierced,
the cheeks or lips be slit, and, even after
these surgical operations are completed,
the articles used for adornment are gener-
ally inconyenient, ard sometimes, By their
weight of construction, are extremely pain
ful.
In striking contrast with decorations
worn on the clothing, in the hair, round
the neck and arms, or pendent from the
ears, lips and nose, is the fiuger-Iing, the
model of convenience. 1t is seldom lost,
for it need not be taken off; requires no
preparatory mutilation Of the body, Is not
painful, is always in view, a perpetual
reminder either of the givCr or OF the pur-
pose for which it is worn.
The popularity of the ring must, there
fore, be in large measuredue to its conven-
fence, and that this good quality was early
learned may be inferred from the Hebrew
During y par. Of the middle ages this
respect showed itself in a peculiar way,
custom demanding that the wedding ring
should cost az much as the bridegroom
could afford to pay; and there are records
in Germany and France, duriug the four
teenth and fifteenth centuries, OF many
large investments made in this direction
by grooms eager to conciliate their brides
and be in fashion. The revulsion made
the ring what we have now, a plain gold
~circlet, though, by a compromise, the ring
may be as costly as fancy dictates or
means permit.
The materials of which wedding rings
have been composed are as diverse as the
nations which have used the ring. The
British Museum has rings of bone and OF
hard wood, found in the Swiss lakes. On
one of the bone rings is traced a heart, Civ
ing antiquaries reasons to believe that the
ring was a pledge Of affection, if not a we'd
ding ring. The same museum has rings
from all parts of the earth-ot bone, ivory,
copper, brass, lead, tin, iron, silver, gold,
and some of o composite of several Of these
metals. One ivory ring from an Egyptian
tomb, bears two clasped hands; an iron
ring, having the design of a hand closing
over a heart, once graced the hand OF a
Roman matron; while the inscriptions on
many others make it certain that they
were wedding rings.
The use of many different materials in
the construction of these wedding rings
does not indicate capricious changes OF
fashion, for it should be remembered that
museums and collections of antiquities
comprise specimens of many ages and OF
widely separated lands, but there is no
doubt that fashion has sometimes had An
influence in determining the style and ma
terial of the ring. For instance, during
the latter part of the sixteenth century a
fashion for some time prevailing in France
of making TIE wedding ring consist OF
several links fastened together in
such q way as to seem but one.
Sometimes there were three, two links
having craven hands and the third a heart,
the union of the three in the proper posi-
ton claspiBg the hands over the heart.
During the palmy days Of astrology there
was quite q fashion in Germany of
the wedding rings engraved with astro-
nomical and astrological characters, the
horoscopes of both the contracting parties
being sometimes indicated in the setting OF
the ring; that being also the golden age OF
tbs quack doctor, wedding rings were often
made with q cavity to contain medical
preparations or charms TO preserve or re-
store health or avert evil. After the cru.
sades had set Europe ia 4 flame, o practice
became common in France, Germany and
England Of wearing rings the settings OF
which was a tiny fragment of wood from
the true cross, and many Of these rings are
still preserved in the cabinets and museums
Of Europe. Asshoof rings were in the
seventeenth century very popular among
the Spanish peasants as a cur for epilepsy,
and such q ring made it was said from the
hoof of the ass which carried Christ into
Jerusalem was used in a wedding in a
country church near Madrid in 1881.
But when the ring was not plain pre-
cious stones of some kind constituted the
settings, and when the selection of the
scene was in question the dominance Of
fashion was absolute. In the fourteenth
century, a fanciful Italian writer on the
mystic arts set forth the virtues of the
various gems, indicating also the month
in which it vas proper to wear particular
stones in order to secure the best result.
The idea took and for some time it was the
fashion in several italian cities TO have
the precious stone Of the ring deter
mined by the month in which the
bride was born. If in January, the stone
was q garnet, believed to have the power
of winning the wearer friends wherever she
went. II in February, her ring was set
with an amethyst, which not only pro-
noted in her the quality of sincerity, but
protected her from poison and from SLAM
derous tongues. The blood.stone was for
March, making her wise and enabling her
with patience to bear domestic cares; the
diamond fof April, keeping her heart limo.
cent and pure 80 long as she wore the gem.
An emerald for May made hers happy wife;
while an agate for June gave her health
and protection from fairies and ghosts. If
born in July the stone was q ruby, which
tended to keep her free from jealousy of
her husband; while in August the sar-
donyx made her happy in the maternal
relation. In September, a sapphire was
the proper stone, it preventing quarrels
between the welded pair; in October, o
csrbuncle was chosen, to promote her love
of home. The November born bride wore
a fonaz - havipu the o;ft of rools,- L.